BUS TOUR & MUSEUMS (Day 5 - part 3)

We exited the hall into the main room. On one wall was a large altar.

The main altar is used in rituals and to invoke different spirits. Drums are used to summon them; dances are performed to facilitate possession of the dancer by them; candles, incense and oils are used as offerings; and drops of water are sprinkled on the altar daily to refresh them.

Joan of Arc and other saints

Animals rest by his feet ... including a small rat!

Legba is the spirit who serves as a connection between God and Earth and is recognized in a rainbow. Since a rainbow can not always be present, a colorful serpent is used. It forms a circle to represent eternity. ... Erzulie is the voodoo loa (or spirit) associated with love and women. Slaves could pray to her while their owners thought they were praying to the Virgin Mary.

This Masonic red banner is around 100 years old. ... Damballah is the Sky Father and creator of all life. As the serpent spirit, he created the cosmos by using his 7,000 coils to form the stars and planets, and to shape the hills and valleys on earth. By shedding his skin, he created water.

Mermaids are revered in voodoo because they represent attributes admired by slaves... love, freedom and independence.

The loas (saints) with theit Catholic counterparts. ... Chango is the god of fire, lightning, thunder and war. He too is associated with St. Barbara.

Yemeya is the goddess of the sea. ... Oya is the warrior goddess of violent storms. Her association is Saint Barbara.

Obatala is the sky god and creator of all humans. He is married to Yemeya. ... Oggunn is the god of steel and iron. His association St. George or St. James.

Oshun is the goddess of love and the arts. ... Eleggua is the messenger of the gods and keeper of the gate. His association is St. Anthony.

(right) It is believed that some spirits live on the other side of mirrors, using it as a portal through which they can enter the physical world during a ritual.

Marie (1801 - 1881) was the daughter of Charles Laveau (a free black man) and his mistress, Marguerite Darcantel (a free black woman). Her white grandfather, Charles Laveau Trudeau, had been acting mayor shortly after the Louisiana Purchase. At 18 years old, she married Santiago Jacques Paris (a free black man from Haiti), who disappeared a few years later. It is said they had two or three children, who also disappeared or died at the same time. She then common-law married a white man named Captain Christopher Duminy de Glapion. Mixed race marriages were common at that time but not legally sanctioned. After 30 years together and 7 children, he died in 1855. Only two of their children lived to adulthood.

As well as being a hairdresser, Marie was a skilled with using healing indigenous herbs. She attended to all walks of life, ranging from her wealthy customers to the prisoners locked up in the Cabildo. She first gained fame in 1853 as a healer during a devastating yellow fever epidemic.Since she probably never learned to read, she always signed her name with an X.

She was a true blend of African and French. She was a devout Catholic and attended daily mass, but would also perform voodoo rituals on Sundays in the Congo Square. She would dance with her albino snake and sell her gris-gris and potions. Up to 500 or 600 people would gather here including the Senegalese, Mandingoes, Nagoes, Angolas, Malimbes, and of course Congolese. The event resembled a modern music festival with audiences and vendors.

Between the 1820s and 1840s, as the last of the African-born population died out, the dances became more contemporary. After the Civil War, the place was no longer needed, but its traditions continued. While retaining its basic rhythms and themes, the music found its way into parlors and became jazz.

In New Orleans, a voodoo priestess is called a Queen while a voodoo priest is called a Doctor. ... Musical instruments, especially drums, were an intrinsic part of life.

Heading back into the hall towards another room on the right

The black cat juju is hung in a house around the Eve of All Saint's Day (All Hallow's Eve or Halloween) and the Day of the Dead. It protects the home against evil spirits.

The term juju means a fetish, or a man-made object believed to have a loa (spirit) living within it. When used in a spell, amulets and other objects can be made to protect, induce good luck (mojo) or cause harm (hex) to another. A juju is an item used by a voodoo practioner to help perform the hoodoo (magic) spell. Black magic is rarely used.

BAnimal bones and skulls become amulets and talismans endowed with magic powers.

Beads made of glass were often used as currency in exchange for slaves, who were the conquered people of another tribe. Shells also served as another form of currency and a show of wealth. They could be woven into hair and clothing, or used as a fetish item as protection from the forces of darkness.

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